Stanford’s Seven Schools

The Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) is dedicated to empowering principled leaders to change lives, change organizations, and change the world. Distinguished faculty, including three Nobel Laureates, engages with students in three degree programs: the two-year full-time MBA, one-year full-time master of science for experienced leaders (MSx), and PhD. In addition a vibrant portfolio of more than seventy certificate and short courses, both on campus and around the world, provide frameworks for executives and leaders to apply innovative solutions within their organizations as well as to the world’s most challenging issues. Alumni join a powerful and close-knit network of trailblazers around the world.

Understanding how the planet works and helping solve the resource and environmental challenges facing humanity are the focus of research and teaching in the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences. The school’s strengths include subsurface processes and their relationship to energy and water resources, natural hazards and the evolution of Earth, as well as outer envelope processes—the “life support system” of oceans, land, atmosphere and climate. The school has 65 faculty, 125 undergraduate and 423 graduate students. It awards BS, MS, Engineer and PhD degrees.

The Graduate School of Education enrolls about 400 graduate students and is preparing the next generation of education scholars, policymakers, entrepreneurs, executives and school leaders. The GSE’s faculty draw from a variety of disciplines to produce scholarship that shapes teaching and learning worldwide; they translate research into practice through partnerships with schools, nonprofits and governments. The GSE offers the Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Arts and Master of Arts with teaching credential, as well as three joint degrees in public policy, law and business. It also offers an undergraduate program. The GSE celebrated 100 years of teaching and learning in 2017.

More than 5,000 graduate and undergraduate students are enrolled in the School of Engineering. The school focuses on seeking solutions to important global problems and educating leaders who will make the world a better place by using the power of engineering principles, techniques and systems. The school has nine departments, more than 280 faculty members and more than 85 laboratories, centers, institutes and programs. The school’s hub is the Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center.

The School of Humanities and Sciences is Stanford’s largest school. As the home of Stanford’s world-class liberal arts education, the school encompasses more than 45 departments and interdisciplinary degree programs that span the humanities, arts, languages and literatures, social sciences, mathematics, and the physical and life sciences. H&S enrolls more than 2,300 graduate students and 2,900 undergraduate students and has more than 570 faculty members. H&S serves as the foundation of a Stanford undergraduate education no matter which discipline students pursue as a major. The school’s graduate programs lead to Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Public Policy or Master of Fine Arts degrees.

Stanford Law School combines classic and innovative legal education, with about 70 faculty members and 180 new JD students annually. The student-to-faculty ratio is 7.3 to 1. The school offers 21 joint degree programs in areas ranging from bioengineering to business to public policy. Eleven clinics allow students to undertake the roles of practicing lawyers, and 25 academic programs and centers and about 20 policy practicums offer opportunities for research and policy work.

The School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in the western United States, encourages intellectual diversity in students interested in developing a scholarly, investigative approach to problems in medicine and science and using discoveries to transform patient care. The school has 1,058 full-time faculty, including seven Nobel laureates; 1,216 postdoctoral scholars; 497 MD students; 1,049 PhD and MS candidates; and 1,257 residents and clinical fellows. Faculty deliver care at Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, where medical students also gain experience. In 2017, faculty received over $648 million for sponsored research.

Other Academic Programs

Stanford Continuing Studies

Dean: Charles Junkerman

Continuing Studies offers approximately 600 courses per year, attracting more than 17,000 students. Courses range from liberal arts and sciences to creative writing to professional and personal development, offered both on-campus and online. All Continuing Studies courses are open to adult students everywhere. Also offered is the Master of Liberal Arts Program for adults. The MLA program, taught by Stanford faculty, takes four to five years to complete.

Online Education

Stanford has been a leader in computer use, instruction, and research, as well as pedagogical innovation and learning research — all of which combined have led to the evolution of MOOCs, or “massive open online courses,” flipped and blended classes, technology-rich learning spaces, and ultimately the synthesis of residential, remote and hybrid learning. Nearly 10 million people have enrolled in Stanford Online’s free courses since they were first offered in 2011. For a full list of online offerings: online.stanford.edu.

Distinguished Careers Institute

The Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute offers people in midlife with major career accomplishments the opportunity to renew their purpose, develop new communities and recalibrate wellness, and to transform themselves for new roles with social impact. In partnership with the Stanford Center on Longevity and Stanford Continuing Studies, this year-long program brings 25 Fellows to campus each year.